Pew Offers Steps for Federal Government to Improve Public Health Data Exchange

The Pew Charitable Trusts sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from both parties June 9 that details the steps they could take to ensure that public health agencies have better data to guide their crisis responses. Specifically, the letter cites the need to expand the types of data that electronic health record systems must be able to share with public health agencies, ensure that data is formatted to more easily verify a patient’s identity, and set improved standards for the electronic infrastructure that health agencies use.